Alcoholics Anonymous is a friendship based on shared interests of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other so they may solve their drinking problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.

If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic.

Reprinted from Alcoholics Anonymous, page 44. With the permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. AA is not allied with any religious group, politics, organization or institution; neither supports or argues any causes. Our most important purpose is to stay sober and help other people who cannot stop drinking.

AA is an informal society of more than 2 million recovering alcoholics throughout the world. In South Africa, there are about 4,500 members. They meet in over 350 local meetingsspread around the country. Meetings range in size from a handful in some localities to a hundred or more in larger communities.

AA is nonprofessional – it doesn’t have clinics, doctors, counsellors or psychologists. All members are themselves recovering from alcoholism. There is no central authority controlling how AA groups operate. It is up to the members of each group to decide what they do. However, the AA program of recovery has proved to be so successful that almost every group follows the program as suggested in the literature.

AA is not a religious organisation nor is it affiliated with any religious body. It welcomes members of all religions, agnostics and atheists alike. You don’t have to sign up or achieve anything to be a member. You’re a member of a group if you choose to be. You can come and go as you please. No one is “in charge” of a group. We work through the offer of help and suggestion only. No one can tell you what you should or shouldn’t do.

AA works through members sharing their stories of what we used to be like, what happened and what we are like now. The AA program, known as The Twelve Steps, provides a framework for self-examination and a road to recovery, free of alcohol.

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.

Alcoholics Anonymous, pages 83-84. With the permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.

"No words can tell of the loneliness and despair I found in that bitter morass of self-pity. Quicksand stretched around me in all directions. I had met my match. I had been overwhelmed. Alcohol was my master."

" We are people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful."

AA Radio Broadcast

Friendly support and cooperation from the media has made it possible for Alcoholics Anonymous to carry its message of hope in South Africa and around the world. We know that A.A. would not have reached many thousands of men and women without this assistance.

Changes

Public Service Announcement

"No words can tell of the loneliness and despair I found in that bitter morass of self-pity. Quicksand stretched around me in all directions. I had met my match. I had been overwhelmed. Alcohol was my master."

" We are people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful."

Announcements

National Convention 2019

East Rand Area
Main Theme: ACCEPTANCE IS THE KEY
Dates: 19 to 21 April 2019
Venue: Edenglen High School
Location: Steyn Avenue, Edenglen, Edenvale, Johannesburg